VW plays it safe with Juke rival

YET another rival for Nissan’s North East Juke has been revealed, with Volkswagen staying very much on the safe side in the design stakes.

Whilst the wild and wacky Juke is regarded as arguably the most adventurous-looking model ever created, the new Volkswagen T-Cross is a bland as butter.

This is a deliberate ploy by car giant VW, whose newcomer will aim to achieve the widest possible appeal, especially among young families and older buyers alike.

The company already has its recently-introduced T-Roc model, with this new T-Cross being slightly smaller again, slotting alongside the VW Group’s Seat Arona and the Kia Stonic. The T-Cross takes things down a notch for VW, becoming its smallest SUV, with a likely price tag in the region of £16,500 when it arrives here from the beginning of next year. In addition to the Nissan Juke, one of its other main rivals will be Citroen’s successful C3 Aircross and possibly the Peugeot 2008. As is increasingly the case, the T-Cross shares a shedload of bits and pieces with other models within the same stable, most notably in this case, the Volkswagen Polo.

They use the same platform, with the T-Cross being fractionally longer than the Polo at 4,107mm, and slightly wider and taller too.

This enables occupants to sit higher up than in a conventional car, which is one of the main attractions of SUVs, regardless of their size.

Despite its relatively restricted exterior dimensions, the T-Cross is cleverly designed to give the impression of a chunky and purposeful off-road vehicle.

There are bloated wheel arches, fatter wheels and tyres and a high degree of practicality.

This encompasses a luggage area extending to 385 litres, which is greater than that of a VW Golf.

Slide the rear bench seat forward and the space increases to 455 litres, whilst with the rearmost seats folded flat this extends to a new high of 1,290 litres, which is pretty impressive.

Despite the chunky appearance there will not be a four-wheel drive option in the UK, primarily because of price, with front wheel drive being the only choice.

Power comes courtesy of Volkswagen’s impressive little three-cylinder turbocharged engines of just one litre, with power outputs of 95bhp and 115bhp.

As usual, the standard transmission is a six-speed manual, with a seven-speed automatic as an option.

Volkswagen says it will not offer the 1.6-litre diesel option to UK buyers, unless there is a shift away from the current hostility towards diesel engines. There will, however, be a hybrid option in due course.